Houthis attack Aden airport as fighting intensifies in Yemen

Houthis attacked the international airport in the southern Yemeni town of Aden with ballistic missiles and explosive-laden drones early on Wednesday, Yemen’s Transport Ministry said, as fighting intensified across several fronts between the Iran-aligned group and Saudi-backed government forces.

The Saudi-led coalition, pushing to retake strategic territory seized by the Houthis, said it had intercepted and destroyed a Houthi ballistic missile north of the Saudi capital Riyadh.

The escalation came after Yemeni government forces, with Saudi-led coalition air support, launched a lightning counter-offensive this week to capture the Red Sea coast around the strategic Bab el-Mandeb Strait shipping route and the city of Mocha.

Yemen’s government said that it forced the Houthis out of areas they had captured last month, reviving a complex 12-year war, which led to one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises and fragmented the Arab world’s most impoverished country.

One missile landed near the runway at Aden International Airport minutes before a flight from Cairo was due to land, the ministry said. Authorities cancelled the landing and diverted the aircraft to Jeddah, while two planes on the runway were moved away from the area over fears of further strikes, it added. There was no immediate comment from the Houthis.

Aden International Airport is the main international gateway for parts of Yemen outside Houthi control.

The Saudi-led coalition backing Yemen’s internationally recognised government said it had intercepted and destroyed a Houthi ballistic missile north of Riyadh. It said it was tracking the launch platform over Houthi-controlled Sanaa and would destroy it, but gave no details of casualties or damage.

Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree said in a statement that the group had targeted King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh with several drones. There was no immediate Saudi confirmation of an attack on the airport.

The Houthis, which control much of Yemen’s north, seized the capital Sanaa in 2014, prompting a military coalition led by Saudi Arabia, fearful of rival Iran’s influence in Yemen and chaos on its borders, to intervene. A UN-brokered truce in 2022 largely halted heavy fighting, but it did not lead to a lasting settlement, with a spillover from the Iran conflict triggering the latest fighting.

The Saudi-led coalition accuses Iran of arming, training and funding the Houthis. The group, mountain fighters who have emerged as a force of tens of thousands with missiles and drones that threatens the region, denies being part of Iran’s Middle East proxy network, and says it develops its own weapons. Tehran also rejects the allegations.

Earlier on Wednesday, the Saudi-led coalition said it had intercepted and destroyed a Houthi ballistic missile launched towards the southwestern Saudi city of Khamis Mushait, Saudi state television reported.

In a separate statement, Saree said the Houthis had attacked Abha International Airport and an airbase in Khamis Mushait with ballistic missiles and drones. It was not immediately clear whether this was linked to the missile the coalition said it had intercepted near Khamis Mushait. Saudi authorities did not immediately confirm an attack on Abha airport.